Bruins face major decision regarding Jarome Iginla

Jarome Iginla's strong season helped the Bruins overcome last year's abrupt departure of winger Nathan Horton. But with salary cap considerations looming and Iginla about to turn 37, the B's must put much thought into how long, and at what price, they want to keep Iginla.

Unlike last year, when reaching Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final gave the Bruins less than a week to finalize preparations for the entry draft, and only a handful of days after that to fine-tune plans for free agency, there’s no time crunch. The various hockey staffs have ample opportunity to examine the season, the post-season, the competition and the roster.

General manager Peter Chiarelli had reached one major conclusion less than two days after the B’s were eliminated by the Canadiens in Game 7 of Round 2: He intends to tweak the team, not tear it down.

Exactly how feasible that is depends largely on another decision: Do the Bruins want to bring unrestricted free agent Jarome Iginla back, and if so, at what cost?

From statistical and character standpoints, there’s no reason not to want Iginla back. He was tied for the team lead with 30 goals, No. 1 with five playoff goals, versatile enough to play on both specialty teams, willing to stick up for himself and his teammates (only three Bruins had more fights than Iginla’s five), and a classy veteran leader. Had Iginla not fit so well on the top scoring line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci, the abrupt departure of Nathan Horton via free agency could have been disastrous.

Iginla will be 37 on July 1 and wants to play a few more years. This season’s production makes him marketable – in other words, he probably won’t have to accept another one-year, incentive-driven contract like the one he signed with Boston. And as much as the B’s (especially Lucic and Krejci) would like to see him return and try again for the first Cup of a great career, other clubs wouldn’t mind a chance to sign him, either. After all, the Bruins aren’t the only built-to-win-now team that’s disappointed the season is over.

Chiarelli said on Friday that he’d be in touch with Iginla, whose interest in returning seems genuine, within a couple of weeks. If the GM gets the impression it’ll take a semi-pricey, relatively long-term commitment to keep Iginla in the fold, a roster tweak for 2014-15 probably won’t be possible.

It’s not that the B’s can’t afford Iginla next year. Their list of potential free agents is relatively short, nobody is in for a salary cap-busting raise, and the cap itself is expected to jump from this past season’s $61 million to between $69 million and $71 million.

Page 2 of 2 - The issue is that several key Bruins are entering the final year of their respective contracts, and some on that list – centers Krejci and Carl Soderberg, defenseman Johnny Boychuk – are just a season away from reaching unrestricted free agency. (Dougie Hamilton is the primary restricted free agent.) The B’s can start talking about extensions with their own potential UFAs after July 1, but they won’t have much more than a salary-cap estimate for 2015-16, if that.

There are already several expensive, long-term deals on the books beyond next season – more than $39 million per year, for instance, devoted to Tuukka Rask, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Lucic, Brad Marchand, Loui Eriksson and Dennis Seidenberg alone. The Bruins will have to think hard about how long, and at what price, they’d be willing to go to add Iginla’s name to that list.

The 2014-15 Bruins, without Iginla, wouldn’t qualify as “tweaked.” They’d have to find a right wing for Lucic and Krejci.

There’s some possibility of doing that from within, using Eriksson or Smith, but that option leaves holes to fill on other lines. Going outside the organization (trade or free agency) would require a careful examination of the salary cap, both in the immediate and mid-range future.

Chiarelli is certainly mulling other moves, such as the potentially sensitive decision regarding Thornton, soon to be 37, who is so popular with teammates and fans alike, but coming off a tough season. Are there roles for RFAs like Caron and Bartkowski? Is anyone at AHL Providence ready to make the jump?

That said, the Iginla situation is No. 1 on the GM’s list. The sooner a determination is made there, the sooner the Bruins can fine-tune plans for next season.